Part number search method and system

ABSTRACT

A computer implemented method and system for identifying one or more part numbers stored in a digital memory comprises parsing of each part number into its primary and secondary components and assigning a relevance score to each; parsing a query part number into one or more primary and secondary components and assigning a relevance score to each query component; identifying each stored part number that has at least one component that matches a query component; calculating for each identified part number a first sum equal to the sum of the relevance scores of the query components that match a component of the identified stored part number; and a second sum equal to the sum of the relevance scores of the components of the identified stored part number that match a query component; and sorting the identified stored part numbers as a function of said first and second sums.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.61/527,043 filed Aug. 24, 2011, entitled “PART NUMBER SEARCH METHOD ANDSYSTEM” the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference. Thisapplication also claims the benefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/353,275, filed Jan. 18, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,751,488 issued Jun.10, 2014, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The increased capacity of digital memory storage, both locally on acomputer and remotely over networks, such as the internet, to remoteelectronic data storage, offers users access to large amounts of data ina very convenient form and physical size. Data may be available ondiskette, CD-ROM, magnetic tape, and online to a centrally locatedcomputer/server and memory storage medium. The challenge remains toextract information from the data simply and efficiently, and to haveconfidence that all relevant items have been uncovered. The widespreaduse of computers and electronic searching has attracted the attention oflarge manufacturers offering a vast array of products in an increasinglycompetitive environment. In an effort to offer products that closelymatches customer needs, manufacturers proliferate product and productfeature alternatives, and create different product model numbers or partnumbers for these alternative products. This proliferation of productofferings provides the customer with more options from which to choose,however, it also increases the difficulty of finding a product thatmatches a specific customer's needs.

Computer implemented searching of a database of part numbers, modelnumbers, etc. stored in a digital memory, to determine if there is amatch with a part number of interest, is difficult when the part numbersare stored in a format that is different from the part number the useris searching for, which is often the case. There can be any number ofreasons for this discrepancy, including but not limited to the followingexamples:

-   1. A manufacturer uses the number 12345 for a part number, and    12345R for the refurbished version of the part number. If the user    enters the query part number 12345 and the only stored part number    is 12345R, there will be no match. The user, however, might be    satisfied with the refurbished version 12345R.-   2. A manufacturer uses 12345 for a part number, and 12345W for a    version of the part number that is white. If the stored part number    is 12345 and the user enters 12345W there will be no match.-   3. An equipment manufacturer uses part number 12345 of a component    manufacturer in particular equipment, and sells this part as a spare    part under the number AB12345, where AB represents the abbreviation    of the equipment manufacturer name or the component manufacturer's    name. If the user enters AB12345 and the stored part number is 12345    there will be no match.-   4. The manufacturer B of a component that is equivalent in    form/fit/function to the component number 12345 made by manufacturer    A might give the equivalent part number the code 12345B.-   5. The distributor of the part 12345 made by manufacturer A might    assign the part number DS12345 to the part.-   6. Sometimes, a distributor of a part adds a couple of digits before    or after the part number. For example, part number 12345 might be    stored as 9012345 or 1234590.

In one embodiment, what is needed is a search method and system thatenables stored part numbers in a database to be retrieved even thoughthe stored part number is not exactly the same as the query part numberprovided by a user, and wherein the retrieved stored part number ornumbers are sorted by various criteria so that it is more likely thatthe most relevant stored part number or numbers are displayed to theuser in a descending order of relevance.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Broadly stated, in one embodiment, the invention is a computerimplemented method for identifying one or more part numbers in a list ofpart numbers stored in a digital memory comprising: parsing each partnumber into one or more primary components and secondary componentsbased on a first predetermined set of rules and calculating a relevancescore for each component of each said stored part number; receiving aquery part number from the user and parsing it into one or more queryprimary components and query secondary components based on said firstpredetermined set of rules and calculating a relevance score for eachquery component of said query part number; identifying each stored partnumber that has at least one component that matches a query component ofsaid query part number; calculating for each identified stored partnumber: a) a first sum equal to the sum of the relevance scores of theone or more query components of the query part number that match acomponent of the identified stored part number; and b) a second sumequal to the sum of the relevance scores of the one or more componentsof the identified stored part number that match a query component;sorting the identified stored part numbers in a predetermined numericalorder as a function of said first sum; and sorting the identified partnumbers in a predetermined numerical order as a function of said secondsum for any part numbers whose first sums are the same.

In another embodiment, the invention further includes calculating foreach identified part number a third sum equal to the number of matchedcomponents in the identified part number, and sorting the identifiedstored part numbers in a predetermined numerical order as a function ofsaid third sum for any identified stored part numbers whose first andsecond sums are the same.

In another embodiment, the invention further includes multiplying eachof said first and second sums by a correction number to remove lesssignificant variations between such sums before the identified storedpart numbers are sorted.

In another embodiment, the invention further includes calculating foreach identified stored part number a number which is a function of theorder of the matched components in each identified part number, andsorting the identified part numbers in ascending numerical order as afunction of said number for any identified stored part numbers whosefirst and second sums are the same.

In another embodiment, the invention further includes enabling thedisplay of the sorted identified part numbers on a user's computer.

In yet another embodiment, the invention further includes: parsing eachquery part number to identify any key words that describe the partassociated with each part number; parsing each part number stored insaid database to identify any keywords that describe the part associatedwith that part number; calculating a relevance score for eachdescriptive keyword and sorting the identified stored part numbers as afunction of any keyword matched between said query part number and anyidentified stored part number.

In another embodiment, a computer-implemented system for performing partnumber searches according to the invention comprises a digital memoryhaving a database of part numbers stored therein; a data processorconfigured to parse each stored part number into one or more primarycomponents and secondary components based on a first predetermined setof rules; to calculate a relevance score for each component of each saidstored part number; and to store each said relevance score in saiddigital memory; a user interface for enabling a user to input a querypart number, said user interface configured to parse said query partnumber into one or more query primary components and query secondarycomponents based on said first predetermined set of rules; to calculatea relevance score for each query component of said query part number;and to store each said relevance score in said digital memory; said dataprocessor further configured to identify each stored part number thathas at least one component that matches a stored query component of saidquery part number; and said user interface further configured forenabling the displaying to the user of the one or more identified storedpart numbers in descending numerical order as a function of a first sumequal to the sum of the relevance scores of the one or more querycomponents of the query part number that match a component of theidentified stored part number; and for enabling the display to the userof the one or more stored part numbers in descending numerical order asa function of a second sum equal to the sum of the relevance scores ofthe one or more components of the identified stored part number thatmatch a query component for any identified stored part numbers whosefirst sums are the same.

In one embodiment, an object of the invention is to enable a user toinput a query part number and find a potentially relevant part numberstored in a digital memory database even if only a portion of the storedpart number matches some or all of the alphanumeric characters in thequery part number. In another embodiment, an object of the invention isto enable a user to find a potentially relevant part number stored in adigital memory database even if the alphanumeric characters of the partnumber are in a different order than in the query part number.

In one embodiment, after one or more stored part numbers are identifiedas having a component that matches a query part number, the identifiedstored part numbers are first sorted in descending order based on afirst sum calculated for each identified stored part number that isequal to the sum of the relevance scores of the one or more queryprimary, secondary, and composite components of the query part numberthat match a primary, secondary, or composite component of theidentified stored part number; then sorted in descending order based ona second sum equal to the sum of the relevance scores of the one or morecomponents of the identified stored part number that match a querycomponent for any identified stored part numbers having the same firstsum; then sorted in ascending order of a third sum equal to the absolutevalue of the difference between an assigned position number of acomponent in the query component an assigned position number of amatching component in an identified part number for any identifiedstored part numbers having the same first and second sum; and thensorting in descending order based on the number of matched components inthe identified stored part number for any stored part number whosefirst, second, and third sums are equal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The features, advantages, and benefits of the present invention willbecome more apparent from the following description read in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numeralsdesignate the same elements, and which are presented solely forexemplary purposes and not with the intent to limit the inventionthereto, and in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates various ways in which a part number may be parsedinto components, and includes FIG. 1A, a diagram showing the parsing ofan exemplary part number into primary components and secondarycomponents according to one embodiment of the invention, FIG. 1B, adiagram showing the parsing of an exemplary part number into primarycomponents and composite components according to one embodiment of theinvention, and FIG. 1C, a diagram showing the parsing of an exemplarypart number's part description into keyword components according to oneembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2A is a diagram showing the parsing of a second exemplary partnumber into primary components and FIG. 2B is a diagram showing analternative way of calculating the relevance score of each primary andsecondary component of an exemplary part number according to oneembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a computer implemented method for indexingpart numbers and descriptions according to one embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a computer implemented method forprocessing a user's part number query according to one embodiment of theinvention; and

FIG. 5 is a system for implementing a part number search methodaccording to one embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A part number (also called a product number) is a sequence ofalphanumeric characters that may include special characters like spaces,hyphens, dots, slashes, tabs, and brackets. Examples of part numbersinclude: ABC123-567XYZ and 75FB231.

A part number consists of one or more primary components. In oneembodiment of the invention, primary components of a part number areidentified according to the following rules: 1) primary componentsinclude any contiguous set of alphabet letters; and 2) primarycomponents include any contiguous set of numbers. In the above-mentionedexemplary part number ABC123-567XYZ, the primary components are ABC,XYZ, 123 and 567. In exemplary part number 75FB231, the primarycomponents are FB, 75, and 231.

According to one embodiment of the invention, primary components can'tinclude any special characters like: spaces, hyphens, dots, slashes,brackets, tabs, etc. These separators break primary components. Forexample, in 123-567, there are two primary components separated by ahyphen “-”. The primary components are 123 and 567. FIGS. 1A and 2Aillustrate two examples of how a part number may be parsed into a seriesof primary components. As seen in FIG. 2A, primary component boundariesmay be determined by a shift from an alphabetic character to a numericcharacter or vice versa, or by special characters, such as a hyphen.

According to one embodiment of the invention, a part number alsotypically includes secondary components. A part number like 0041234 hasone primary component “0041234” according to the above definition ofprimary components. However, the part number might actually consist oftwo components: “004” a number that identifies the manufacturer, and“1234” a number that identifies the part. The user might want to enter1234 to find the part independently of which manufacturer makes it. Inanother example, part 1234501 might actually consist of two components:“12345” to identify the part, and “01” to denote a variation like thecolor. The user might want to enter 12345 to find the part independentlyof the color. Therefore, there is a need to define secondary components.

A primary component consists of zero or more secondary components. Asecondary component may be the relevant portion of the primary componentthat identifies the part. Identifying the secondary components ofcertain primary components is dependent on the nature of the primarycomponents, the way primary components are generated, and theinformation captured in the primary component itself. In other words, asecondary component is a function of the primary component and may bebased on the type of the primary component or even the content of theprimary component itself

In one embodiment of the invention, a secondary component of a primarycomponent is generated by omitting one or more leading or trailingcharacters from the primary component. In this embodiment, the followingrules are used:

1) A secondary component is a subset of the primary component where oneor more leading or trailing characters are omitted;

2) The number of secondary components contained in a given primarycomponent varies according to the primary component's length;

3) A primary component of 3 or 4 characters has only 2 secondarycomponents generated by omitting a single character from the primarycomponent (Examples include: a) a primary component 123 has thesecondary components 23 and 12; and b) a primary component 4567 has thesecondary components 456 and 567); and

4) A primary component of 5 or 6 characters has only 4 secondarycomponents generated by omitting either one or two characters from theleading and trailing ends of the primary component (Examples include: a)primary component 12345 has the secondary components 1234, 2345, 123 and345; and b) primary component 123456 has the secondary components:12345, 23456, 1234 and 3456).

The following table lists, in one embodiment, the number of secondarycomponents generated as a function of the primary component's length:

Primary Number of Component Leading or Trailing secondary LengthCharacters to omit components 1-2 0 0 3-4 1 2 5-6 2 4 7-8 3 6  9-12 4 813+ 5 10

Referring again to FIG. 1, FIG. 1A is a diagram showing the parsing ofexemplary part number KAM-123F4XLM, shown at (100), into primarycomponents and secondary components according to one embodiment of theinvention. As seen in FIG. 1A, part number (100) is parsed into primarycomponents (102). Each of the primary components (102) that have aprimary component length of more than two is parsed according to theabove described rules into a plurality of secondary components (106).

The term “relevance score” (RS) is a numerical score defined to measurehow relevant a primary or secondary component is to the original partnumber. According to one embodiment of the invention, the higher therelevance score, the more relevant the component is to the part number.

In one embodiment, the relevance score RS obeys the following rules:

1) Primary components always have a higher relevance score thansecondary components;

2) Numeric primary components have a higher relevance score thanalphabetic primary components;

3) Long components have a higher relevance score than shorter componentsof the same type;

4) Numeric secondary components generated by omitting trailing digitshave a higher relevance score than numeric secondary componentsgenerated by omitting leading digits; and

5) Secondary components (both numeric and alphabetic) generated byomitting fewer characters have a higher relevance score than secondarycomponents generated by omitting more characters.

In one embodiment, utilizing the above listed rules 1-5, relevancescores for each component in a part number are calculated as follows.First, a first number, called Character Factor CFa, is assigned toalphabetic characters and a second number, called Character Factor CFn,is assigned to numeric characters. These Character Factors are used tomathematically weight the importance of numeric characters higher thanalphabetic characters in a part number. This is because, typically,numbers are more important than letters in a part number. Consequently,in one embodiment, CFn is a larger number than CFa. In one embodiment,CFa=1 and CFn=2. Second, these Character Factors are applied to eachcharacter in the part number and these numbers are summed to create aSum of the Character Factors (SCF). For example, in part number ABC789,the Sum of Character Factors (SCF) would be =1 (for the A)+1 (for theB)+1 (for the C)+2 (for the 7)+2 (for the 8)+2 (for the 9)=9. Third, anAverage Character Weight (ACW) is calculated. In one embodiment,ACW=C/SCF, where C is a predetermined constant. In this exemplaryembodiment, C is equal to 10,000. For the above exemplary part numberABC789, the Average Character Weight is therefore calculated as follows:ACW=10000/9=1111.11.

Using the calculated values obtained for CFa, CFn, and ACW, describedabove, the Relevance Score (RS) of each primary and secondary componentin a part number is then calculated in one embodiment as follows:

a) RS(primary numeric component)=length of component*ACW*CFn. In theexample of part number ABC789, the Relevance Score RS of the numericprimary component 789 is calculated as follows: 3*1111.11*2=6666.66.

b) RS(primary alphabetic component)=length of component*ACW*CFa. In theexample of part ABC789, the Relevance Score of the alphabetic componentABC is calculated as follows: 3*1111.11*1=3333.33.

c) RS(secondary numeric component where trailing characters areomitted)=(Length of secondary component/length of parent primarycomponent)*RS(parent primary component)*TCNSCF, where TCNSCF is adecreasing factor for the numeric secondary components generated byomitting trailing characters. In one embodiment, TCNSCF=1. In theexample of part number ABC789, the secondary numeric component of theparent primary component 789 where trailing characters are omitted is78. The Relevance Score RS for this secondary component is thereforecalculated as follows: (2/3)*6666.66*1=4444.44.

d) RS(secondary numeric component where leading characters areomitted)=(Length of secondary component/length of parent primarycomponent)*RS(parent primary component)*LCNSCF, where LCNSCF is adecreasing factor for the numeric secondary components generated byomitting leading characters. In one embodiment, LCNSCF=0.5. In theexample of part number ABC789, The RS of the secondary numeric componentof the parent 789 where leading characters are omitted (component 89) istherefore calculated as follows: (2/3)*6666.66*0.5=2222.22. As can beseen from this example, since LCNSCF=0.5 and TCNSCF=1, this creates ahigher relevance score for secondary components where trailing digitshave been omitted as compared to secondary components where leadingdigits have been omitted.

e) RS(alphabet secondary components)=(Length of secondarycomponent/length of parent primary component)*RS(parent primarycomponent)*ASCF, where ASCF is a decreasing factor for the alphabetsecondary components. In one embodiment, ASCF=0.5. In the example ofpart number ABC789, the secondary component of the parent ABC are AB andBC. The RS for each of these secondary components is thereforecalculated as follows:

-   (2/3)*3333.33*0.5=1111.11.

In one embodiment, the relevance score of each primary and secondarycomponent of each part number in the database is calculated using theformulas described above and these numbers are then stored in a digitalmemory. In the same way [H1], In one embodiment, the relevance score ofeach primary and secondary component of the query part number iscalculated when the query part number is entered by a user. In analternate embodiment, different relevance scoring functions andconstants can be used in determining the relevance scores of thecomponents of the query part number.

FIG. 2B is a diagram showing an alternative way of calculating therelevance score of each primary and secondary component of an exemplarypart number according to another embodiment of the invention. FIG. 2B isa diagram showing the primary components of an exemplary part number andtheir weight (WPC). As seen in FIG. 2B, the weight of a primarycomponent (WPC) is equal to the number of characters of the componentmultiplied by a weight factor WF. In one embodiment, the Weight FactorWFn for numeric components is [H2] higher than the factor of alphabeticcomponents WFa. In an alternate embodiment, in certain industries, thealphabet characters may be more important than numeric characters, andso the weight factor for alphabet characters in that embodiment may behigher than for numeric characters.

In one preferred embodiment, WFn=2, and WFa=1. In the example shown inFIG. 2B, using these weight factors, the sum of the weights of theprimary components SUM(WPCi) is:SUM(WPCi)=4*1+6*2+3*1+3*2+2*2+2*1=4+12+3+6+4+2=31. The weight of eachcharacter (WEC) is equal to a Relevance Constant (RC) divided bySUM(WPCi), i.e., WEC=RC/SUM(WPCi). In this example, assuming RC=10,000in a preferred embodiment, then: WEC=10,000/31=322.58. The relevance ofa numeric primary component (RPCn) is: RPCn=Number of primary componentcharacters*Weight Factor (WFn)*Weight of Each Char. (WEC). The relevanceof an alphabetic primary component (RPCa) is: RPCa=Number of primarycomponent characters*Weight Factor (WFa)*Weight of Each Char. (WEC). Inthis example, the RPC of the primary components is as follows:

-   RPC(ABCD)=4*1*322.58=1290.32-   RPC(123456)=6*2*322.58=3870.96-   RPC(XYZ)=3*1*322.58=967.74-   RPC(789)=3*2*322.58=1935.48-   RPC(43)=2*2*322.58=1290.32-   RPC(MP)=2*1*322.58=645.16

The relevance of a numeric secondary component generated by omittingtrailing characters (RSCnt) is: RSCnt=(Number of secondary componentcharacters/Number of parent primary component characters)*RPC of parent.The relevance of any alphabetic secondary component and for numericsecondary components generated by omitting leading characters is:RSCanl=(Number of secondary component char./(WFn*Number of parentprimary component characters))*RPC of parent. In the example shown inFIG. 2B, the secondary components include ABC, VCD, 12345, 23456, 1234,3456, XY, YZ, 78 and 89. The relevance scores RPC of some of thesecondary components are as follows:

-   RPC(12345)=(5/6)*3870.96=3225.8-   RPC(ABC)=(3/(4*2))*1290.32=483.87-   RPC(BCD)=(3/(4*2))*1290.32=483.87-   RPC(23456)=(5/(6*2))*3870.96=1612.9

Once a particular method has been selected for calculating the relevancescores for each of the components in a stored part number, the next stepin the method according to one embodiment of the invention is to buildan index of all the stored part numbers in the database by calculatingand storing relevance scores for each of the components found in eachstored part number. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a process for indexingstored part numbers and descriptions according to one embodiment of theinvention. As seen in FIG. 3, each of the part numbers are fetched (200)and parsed into part numbers and part descriptions. The part numbers areparsed into their primary components (208) and stored (210). Thesecondary components are generated and stored. The relevance scores ofeach primary and secondary component is calculated (210, 212). In analternate embodiment, the primary components of each part number arealso combined into zero or more composite components and stored, and therelevance scores of each composite component is calculated (214).Similarly, in an alternate embodiment, any descriptive keywords in eachstored part number is identified and stored and a relevance score iscalculated for each descriptive keyword (202, 204). The generation ofcomposite components of the part number (214) are described in moredetail below, as well as the identification and analysis of partdescription key words (202, 204).

With the data obtained from the above steps, a computer accessible partscomponent index (206) database is created. In one embodiment of thisindex database, all of the primary, secondary, and composite componentsof each stored part number are stored along with the relevance score ofeach component.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a method for processing a user's partnumber query according to one embodiment of the invention. As seen inFIG. 4, a part number is input as a query from a user (300). This querypart number is preferably parsed into its English descriptive keywords(if any) and its alphanumeric parts (304). The alphanumeric parts of thequery part number are then parsed into their primary and secondarycomponents and the relevance score of each component is calculated (308)in the same manner that part numbers in the parts components index arecreated, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 3. In an alternateembodiment, composite components of the query part number are alsoidentified and the relevance score of each calculated. In an alternateembodiment, different relevance functions and constants may be appliedthan those used during the processing of stored part numbers.

Referring again to FIG. 4, using the parts components index database(312) (identified as 206 in FIG. 3), all of the stored part numbers inthe index database which contain any of the primary or secondarycomponents that match any primary or secondary component of the inputquery part number are identified. In one embodiment of the invention,for each matched stored part number, the following ranking metrics arecalculated (310):

1) Input query part number matching score, a first sum equal to the sumof the relevance scores of the components in the query part number wherea match has been found with a component in the identified stored partnumber.

2) Matched part matching score, a second sum equal to the sum of therelevance scores of the one or more components in the identified storedpart number that match a query component.

3) A third sum equal to the number of components in the input query partnumber and the identified stored part number that match.

4) In one embodiment, the identified stored part numbers are sorted asfollows (314):

-   -   a) Level 1: In descending order of the input query matching        score calculated in 1) above.    -   b) Level 2: In descending order of matched part matching score        calculated in 2) above for any stored part numbers having the        same query matching score sum.    -   c) Level 3: In descending order of number of matched components        calculated in 3) above for any stored part numbers having the        same query matching score and the same matched part number        matching score.

In one embodiment, the identified part numbers are sorted as describedin Levels 1 and 2 above, according to “corrected” values ofinput-query/matched part matching scores, respectively. In oneembodiment, a correction function is applied to each of the first andsecond sums to remove less significant variations between such sumsbefore the sorting of said identified stored part numbers as a functionof said first and second sums. One way of implementing this correctionfunction is to multiply the values of the matching scores by apredetermined correction number to remove less significant variationsbetween such sums before the sorting of said identified stored partnumbers as a function of said first and second sums. The reason behindthe use of a correction function is to allow for the modification ofmatching scores based on the actual numbers of the matched part numbersand to fix any anomalies in the Relevance Functions.

For example, consider the case where two matching part numbers giveinput query matching scores of 2003 and 2002, respectively, while theygive matched part matching scores of 100 and 8100. If we sort accordingoriginal input-query matching score and then the matched part matchingscore, it is clear that the first part number will be listed before thesecond part number. However, it seems like the second part number is abetter match for the input query than the first part number, since ithas a matched part matching score that is so much higher.

In one embodiment, an Input query relevance correction functionIQRCF(rs), a numerical function, is applied to the set of input-querymatching scores to generate a corrected input query matching score. Amatched parts relevance correction function MPRCF(rs), a numericalfunction, is similarly applied to the set of matched part matchingscores to generate a corrected matched part matching score.

In one embodiment, the correction function is defined as: 1/(maximum[matching score]*a tolerance factor), where the tolerance factor is apercentage of how much to tolerate the difference between two differentscores. Consequently, an input query relevance correctionfactor=1/(maximum [input query matching score (3-a)]*input queryrelevance tolerance factor (IQRTF)). Similarly, a matched partsrelevance correction factor=1/(maximum [matched part matching score(3-b)]*matched parts relevance tolerance factor (MPRTF)).

Returning to the above example, and putting IQRTF and MPRTF=0.01 (1%tolerance) the following corrected values are calculated. The maximuminput query matching score=2003, and so IQRTF=1/(2003*0.01)=0.0499. Thisresults in a Corrected input query matching score of part1=2003*0.04993=100 (approximated to nearest integer). The Correctedinput query matching score of part 2=2002*0.04993=100 (approximated tonearest integer).

The maximum matched-part matching score=8100, and soMPRTF=1/(8100*0.01)=0.0123. This results in a Corrected matched-partmatching score of part 1=100*0.0123=1 (approximated to nearest integer).The Corrected matched-part matching score of part 2=8100* 0.0123=100(approximated to nearest integer).

A full example of the implementation of the method according to oneembodiment of the invention is as follows. In this example, the partnumbers database contains the part numbers: “1234”, “1234abcd” and“abcd” and the input query part number to be analyzed is “123”.

Parsing the stored part numbers in the part numbers database generatesthe following primary and secondary components:

Stored Part Number  Primary Components Secondary Components 1234 1234123, 234 1234abcd 1234, abcd 123, 234, abc, bcd Abcd Abcd abc, bcd

Primary components relevance scores are calculated as follows, using theabove noted formulas a) RS(primary numeric component)=length ofcomponent*ACW*CFn, and b) RS(primary alphabetic component)=length ofcomponent*ACW*CFa:

Stored Primary Sum of Character Average Relevance Part Com- FactorsCharacter Weight Score Number ponents (SCF) (ACW) (RS) 1234 1234 2 + 2 +2 + 2 = 8 10000/8 = 1250 10000 1234abcd 1234 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 10000/12 =833.3 6667 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 12 abcd 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 10000/12 = 833.3 33331 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 12 abcd abcd 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 4 10000/4 = 2500 10000

Secondary components relevance scores are calculated as follows, usingthe above noted formulas c) RS(secondary numeric component wheretrailing characters are omitted)=(Length of secondary component/lengthof parent primary component)*RS(parent primary component)*TCNSCF, d)RS(secondary numeric component where leading characters areomitted)=(Length of secondary component/length of parent primarycomponent)*RS(parent primary component) *LCNSCF, and e) RS(alphabetsecondary components)=(Length of secondary component/length of parentprimary component)*RS(parent primary component)*ASCF:

Secondary Parent primary Component Stored Part Secondary ComponentRelevance Score Number Components Relevance Score (RS) 1234 123 100007500 234 10000 3750 1234abcd 123 6667 5000 234 6667 2500 abc 3333 1250bcd 3333 1250 Abcd abc 10000 3750 bcd 10000 3750

The parts components' index is therefore the following:

Stored Part Relevance Number Component Component Type Score “1234”“1234” Primary 10000 “1234” “123” Secondary - omitting trailing 7500“1234” “234” Secondary - omitting leading 3750 “1234abcd” “1234” Primary6667 “1234abcd” “abcd” Primary 3333 “1234abcd” “123” Secondary -omitting trailing 5000 “1234abcd” “234” Secondary - omitting leading2500 “1234abcd” “abc” Secondary - omitting trailing 1250 “1234abcd”“bcd” Secondary - omitting leading 1250 “abcd” “abcd” Primary 10000“abcd” “abc” Secondary - omitting trailing 3750 “abcd” “bcd” Secondary -omitting leading 3750

The input query part number “123” is processed as follows using the sameformulas identified above. Its primary component is 123 with a relevancescore of 10000 (i.e., character count (3)*10000/ACW (6)*CFn (2)=10000).In a similar fashion, its secondary components are “12” and “23” withrelevance scores of 6667 and 3333 respectively.

According to one embodiment of the method, stored part numbers thatmatch the query part number are then identified from the partscomponents index. In this example, all stored part numbers where one ormore of the query part number components “123”, “12” or “23” match acomponent of a stored part number are identified. The result is:

Stored Part Relevance Number Component Component Type Score 1234 123Secondary - omitting trailing 7500 1234abcd 123 Secondary - omittingtrailing 5000

Grouping by part number and calculating ranking metrics, as describedabove, results in:

Input Query Part Number of Stored Part Number Matched Part MatchingMatched Number Matching Score Score Components 1234 10000 7500 11234abcd 10000 5000 1where the input query part number matching score=sum of the relevancescores of the components in the query part number where a match has beenfound with a component in the identified stored part number, and wherethe matched part matching score=sum of the relevance scores of thematching components in the identified stored part number.

Calculating correction factors at a tolerance factor of 0.01 (1%) and amaximum input query matching score=10000 results in the following:IQRTF=1/(10000*0.01)=0.01. Similarly, the maximum matched-part matchingscore=7500, and so MPRTF=1/(7500*0.01)=0.01333. The Corrected inputquery matching score and Corrected matched part matching score are asfollows:

Stored Corrected Input Query Corrected Number of Part Part NumberMatching Matched Part Matched Number Score Matching Score Components1234 10000 * 0.01 = 100 7500 * 0.01333 = 100 1 1234abcd 10000 * 0.01 =100 5000 * 0.01333 = 67  1

Sorting the matching parts in the above table in descending order ofcolumn 2 then 3 then 4, as explained above (i.e., the Level 1, Level 2,and Level 3 sorting), results in a sorting where part number “1234” islisted first, followed by part number “1234abcd”.

Another more complex example is as follows. Let the stored part numberscatalog include the following part numbers: “1234”, “1234abcd”, “abcd”,“abc-xyz” and “567-xyz”. In this example, the query part number to beprocessed is “1234abcd”.

Parsing the stored part numbers creates the following primary andsecondary components:

Part Number Primary Components Secondary Components “1234” “1234” “123”,“234” “1234abcd” “1234”, “abcd” “123”, “234”, “abc”, “bcd” “abcd” “abcd”“abc”, “bcd” “abc-xyz” “abc”, “xyz” “ab”, “bc”, “xy”, “yz” “567-xyz”“567”, “xyz” “56”, “67”, “xy”, “yz”

Calculating the primary components relevance scores results in thefollowing, using the same formulas described above:

Average Sum of Character Character Relevance Stored Part Primary FactorsWeight Score Number Components (SCF) (ACW) (RS) “1234” “1234” 8 125010000 “1234abcd” “1234” 12 833.3 6667 “abcd” 12 833.3 3333 “abcd” “abcd”4 2500 10000 “abc-xyz” “abc” 6 1666.67 5000 “xyz” 6 1666.67 5000“567-xyz” “567” 9 1111.11 6667 “xyz” 9 1111.11 3333

Calculating the secondary components relevance scores results in thefollowing, using the same formulas described above:

Secondary Parent Primary Component Stored Part Secondary ComponentRelevance Score Number Component Relevance Score (RS) “1234” “123” 100007500 “234” 10000 3750 “1234abcd” “123” 6667 5000 “234” 6667 2500 “abc”3333 1250 “bcd” 3333 1250 “abcd” “abc” 10000 3750 “bcd” 10000 3750“abc-xyz” “ab” 5000 1667 “bc” 5000 1667 “xy” 5000 1667 “yz” 5000 1667“567-xyz” “56” 6667 4444 “67” 6667 2222 “xy” 3333 1111 “yz” 3333 1111

The parts components' index is therefore the following:

Relevance Part Number Component Component Type Score “1234” “1234”Primary 10000 “1234” “123” Secondary - omitting trailing 7500 “1234”“234” Secondary - omitting leading 3750 “1234abcd” “1234” Primary 6667“1234abcd” “abcd” Primary 3333 “1234abcd” “123” Secondary - omittingtrailing 5000 “1234abcd” “234” Secondary - omitting leading 2500“1234abcd” “abc” Secondary - omitting trailing 1250 “1234abcd” “bcd”Secondary - omitting leading 1250 “abcd” “abcd” Primary 10000 “abcd”“abc” Secondary - omitting trailing 3750 “abcd” “bcd” Secondary -omitting leading 3750 “abc-xyz” “abc” Primary 5000 “abc-xyz” “xyz”Primary 5000 “abc-xyz” “ab” Secondary - omitting trailing 1667 “abc-xyz”“bc” Secondary - omitting leading 1667 “abc-xyz” “xy” Secondary -omitting trailing 1667 “abc-xyz” “yz” Secondary - omitting leading 1667“567-xyz” “567” Primary 6667 “567-xyz” “xyz” Primary 3333 “567-xyz” “56”Secondary - omitting trailing 4444 “567-xyz” “67” Secondary - omittingleading 2222 “567-xyz” “xy” Secondary - omitting trailing 1111 “567-xyz”“yz” Secondary - omitting leading 1111

Processing input query part number “1234abc”, it includes primarycomponents and “1234” and “abc”, with relevance scores 7272 and 2728respectively calculated as described above. The secondary components ofthe query part number are “123”, “234”, “ab” and “bc” with relevancescores 5454, 2727, 909, and 909 respectively.

Selecting matching parts from the stored part numbers in the componentsindex, i.e., selecting all part number records where component=“1234”,“abc”, “123”, “234”, “ab” and “bc” of the input query find a matchresults in the following:

Matching Relevance Part Number Component Component Type Score “1234”“1234” Primary 10000 “1234” “123” Secondary - omitting trailing 7500“1234” “234” Secondary - omitting leading 3750 “1234abcd” “1234” Primary6667 “1234abcd” “123” Secondary - omitting trailing 5000 “1234abcd”“234” Secondary - omitting leading 2500 “1234abcd” “abc” Secondary -omitting trailing 1250 “abcd” “abc” Secondary - omitting trailing 3750“abc-xyz” “abc” Primary 5000 “abc-xyz” “ab” Secondary - omittingtrailing 1667 “abc-xyz” “bc” Secondary - omitting leading 1667

Grouping by part number and calculating ranking metrics in the samefashion as described above results in the following:

Input Query Part Number Number of Stored Part Matching Matched PartMatching Matched Number Score Score Components “1234” 15453 21250 3“1234abcd” 18181 15417 4 “abcd” 2728 3750 1 “abc-xyz” 4546 8334 3

Calculating correction factors at a tolerance factor of 0.01 (1%) and amaximum input query matching score=18181, results in the following:IQRTF=1/(18181*0.01)=0.0055. Similarly, maximum matched-part matchingscore=21250, and so MPRTF=1/(21250*0.01) =0.0047. The Corrected inputquery matching score and Corrected matched part matching score are asfollows:

Number of Corrected Input Corrected Matched Stored Part Query PartNumber Matched Part Comp- Number Matching Score Matching Score onents“1234” 15453 * 0.0055 = 85 21250 * 0.0047 = 100 3 “1234abcd” 18181 *0.0055 = 100 15417 * 0.0047 = 72 4 “abcd”  2728 * 0.0055 = 15  3750 *0.0047 = 18 1 “abc-xyz”  4546 * 0.0055 = 25  8334 * 0.0047 = 39 3

Sorting the matching parts in the above table in descending order ofcolumn 2 then 3 then 4, as explained above (i.e., the Level 1, Level 2,and Level 3 sorting, described above), results in a sorting where thepart numbers are sorted entirely with numbers in column 2 as follows:

“1234abcd”

“1234”

“abc-xyz”

“abcd”

Note that the numbers in column 3 only become relevant where the inputquery part number matching scores for more than one stored part numberare the same. Similarly, the numbers in column 4 only become relevantwhere both the input query part number matching scores and the matchingpart matching scores are the same for more than one stored part number.

The above sections identify matching part numbers with a rank based oncomponent matching but they do not take into consideration the order ofthe matching components in the input query part number compared to theorder of the matching components of the stored part numbers. In oneembodiment of the invention, an algorithm is added that also takes intoaccount the order of the matching components.

Consider the exemplary case where the two part numbers “1234abcd” and“abcd1234” exist in the stored part number database. When the userenters the input query part number “1234abcd”, the order of the returnedresults preferably takes into account the relative components order. Inother words, the results should show part number 1234abcd before partnumber abcd1234.

In order to take the relative components order into account, a thirdtype of component is used, the composite component. A compositecomponent is defined as a concatenation of two adjacent primarycomponents. For example, in part number 123-567 there are two primarycomponents 123 and 567, and a single composite component 123567. In partnumber 123abc456, which has three primary components, there are twocomposite components: 123abc and abc456. More generally, the number ofcomposite components in a given part number is one less than the numberof primary components in the part number.

FIG. 1B is a diagram showing the parsing of an exemplary part numberKAM-1234F4XLM into primary components (102) and composite components(104) according to one embodiment of the invention. As can be seen, eachcomposite component is generated by merging or linking together eachpair of consecutive primary components in the part number.

In this embodiment, composite components are generated for each of thestored part numbers in addition to their primary and secondarycomponents. As seen in FIG. 3 at (214), each generated compositecomponent for each stored part number has a relevance score calculatedand the result stored. Composite components must also be generated forthe input query part number. The composite components and theirassociated relevance scores are also stored in the index (206) with theprimary and secondary components.

In one embodiment, the relevance score of a composite component is equalto the sum of the relevance scores of its primary components. Theserelevance scores are added to the first and second sums, describedabove, for any composite components in an identified stored part numberthat match a composite component in the query part number in the samemanner that the relevance scores of matched primary and secondarycomponents are summed. More specifically, for each identified storedpart number, the first sum further includes the addition of therelevance scores of the one or more composite components of said querypart number that match a composite component of the identified storedpart number and the second sum further includes the addition of therelevance scores of the one or more composite components of theidentified stored part number that match a query composite component.

The composite components allow the taking into account of componentorders as illustrated in the following example. For the two part numbers“1234abcd” and “abcd1234”, there will be two more records in thecomponent index: “1234abcd” and “abcd1234”, which are the compositecomponents. For the input query part number, there will be an extracomponent “1234abcd” which is the composite component. The matching ofthe newly added composite components to the input query part number willincrease the ranking score for the stored part number having an exactmatch over stored part numbers where the positions of 1234 and abcd areswapped, thus causing part number 1234abcd to be listed first in thesearch results.

The use of composite components will generally resolve the abovedescribed relative order problems, even those containing more than twoprimary components, due to the fact that the number of compositecomponents equals the number of primary components minus one. As anotherexample, if the stored part numbers are 123abc456 and abc456-123. Thecomposite components are 123abc and abc456 for the first part number,and abc456 and 456123 for the second part number. If the user enters123abc as the query part number, the user expects to see stored partnumber 123abc456 first in the results. The composite component of theinput query part number is 123abc. This component will match thecomposite component 123abc of the stored part number 123abc456 andtherefore this match will increase the rank of this stored part number,which will make it appear first in the results.

As a further example, if the stored part numbers catalog contains thepart numbers: “X12”, “12-X” and “67”, and an input query part number“12-X”, the parsing of these stored part numbers generates the followingprimary and secondary components:

Stored Part Number Primary Components Secondary Components “X12” “X”,“12” None “12-X” “12”, “X” None “67” “67” None

Calculating primary components relevance scores, as described above,results in:

Sum of Character Average Relevance Stored Part Primary Factors CharacterWeight Score Number Component (SCF) (ACW) (RS) “X12” “X” 5 2000 2000“X12” “12” 5 2000 8000 “12-X” “12” 5 2000 8000 “12-X” “X” 5 2000 2000“67” “67” 4 2500 10000

In this example, there are no secondary components to calculaterelevance scores for.

Generating composite components and calculating relevance scores resultsin the following:

Stored Part Composite Relevance Score Number Component (RS) “X12” “X12”2000 + 8000 = 10000 “12-X” “12X” 8000 + 2000 = 10000

The parts components' index is therefore the following:

Stored Part Number Component Component Type Relevance Score “X12” “X”Primary 2000 “X12” “12” Primary 8000 “X12” “X12” Composite 10000 “12-X”“12” Primary 8000 “12-X” “X” Primary 2000 “12-X” “12X” Composite 10000“67” “67” Primary 10000

An input query part number “12-X” is processed as follows. This querypart number has primary components: “12”, “X” with relevance scores:8000, 2000 respectively, and no secondary components. However, it has acomposite component “12X” with a relevance score of 10000. The matchingparts from the components' index are then identified, that is, all ofthe stored part number records are selected where a primary or compositecomponent is “12”, “X”, or “12X”.

Stored Part Number Component Component Type Relevance Score “X12” “X”Primary 2000 “X12” “12” Primary 8000 “12-X” “12” Primary 8000 “12-X” “X”Primary 2000 “12-X” “12X” Composite 10000

Grouping by part number and calculating ranking metrics, in the samefashion as described above, results in the following:

Query Number of Stored Part Matching Matched Part Matching MatchedNumber Score Score Components “X12” 10000 10000 2 (2 primaries) “12-X”20000 20000 3 (2 primaries + 1 composite)

Calculating correction factors at a tolerance factor of 0.01 (1%), witha maximum Input query matching score=20000 results inIQRTF=1/(20000*0.01)=0.005. Similarly, a maximum matched-part matchingscore=20000 results in MPRTF=1/(20000*0.01)=0.005. The result is thefollowing:

Stored Corrected Number of Part Corrected Query Matched Part MatchedNumber Matching Score Matching Score Components “X12” 10000 * 0.005 = 5010000 * 0.005 = 50 2 (2 primaries) “12-X” 20000 * 0.005 = 100 20000 *0.005 = 3 (2 primaries + 100 1 composite)

Sorting the matching parts according to the above described rankingmetrics, we come up with the results: “12-X” and “X12” respectively,i.e., an exact match is now shown before the result with swapped order.

One important note about components matching is that matching can bedefined to occur between components of different types and still providevalid relevance scoring. For example, a composite component in the querycould match a primary component in a stored part number and vice versa,and the matching scores adjusted accordingly.

The above embodiment does not resolve all ordering issues. Consider thecase where two part numbers “NV-1234” and “1234-NV” exist in the storedpart numbers database. When a user enters a query like “1234”, the orderof the returned results is not guaranteed to show the “1234-NV” matchfirst due to the fact that the above described embodiment of searchalgorithm so far (even with relative components order) does not takeinto account the absolute components position.

The absolute components position is defined to be an integerrepresenting the position of a certain component within its parent partnumber. For example, part number 123 XYZ 456 consists of three primarycomponents: 123, XYZ and 456 with component orders: 123=1, XYZ=2 and456=3 respectively. In one embodiment, secondary components have thesame component position as the parent primary component and compositecomponents have the smallest component position of its two childrenprimary components.

In one embodiment, component position numbers are assigned as follows. Acomponent position number is assigned to each primary component of saidquery part number and to each primary component of each said stored partnumber that corresponds to the position of the component within therespective part number, starting from the left. The same componentposition number is assigned to each secondary component of a givenprimary component. Each composite component is assigned the smaller ofthe two component position numbers assigned to the primary componentsthat make up the respective composite component. The resultant componentposition numbers for each component are stored in a digital memory. Afourth sum is then calculated for each identified stored part numberthat is equal to the sum of the absolute values of the differencebetween the component position number of a query component and thecomponent position number of a matched component of said identifiedstored part number for each matched component.

The absolute components position of components is integrated in thesearch algorithm according to one embodiment as follows. The stored partnumbers components' index map is modified to include the absolutecomponent position in addition to the other fields.

Absolute Part Relevance Component Number Component Component Type ScorePosition 1234 1234 Primary 10000 1 1234 123 Secondary - 7500 1 omittingtrailing 1234 234 Secondary - 3750 1 omitting leading 1234abcd 1234Primary 6667 1 1234abcd Abcd Primary 3333 2 1234abcd 123 Secondary -5000 1 omitting trailing 1234abcd 234 Secondary - 2500 1 omittingleading 1234abcd Abc Secondary - 1250 2 omitting trailing 1234abcd BcdSecondary - 1250 2 omitting leading Abcd Abcd Primary 10000 1 Abcd AbcSecondary - 3750 1 omitting trailing Abcd Bcd Secondary - 3750 1omitting leading

The searching and ranking algorithm as modified in this embodiment,starts by parsing the input query part number into its primary,secondary, and composite components and calculating the relevance scoreof each component and the absolute component position. Using thecomponent index, all of the stored part numbers which contain any of thecomponents of the input query part number are identified. For eachmatched part, the following ranking metrics are calculated:

1) Query matching score=Σrelevance score of all matched components inthe input query.

2) Matched part matching score=Σrelevance score of matched components inthe matched part.

3) Number of matched components between input query and matched part.

4) Order matching score=Σ absolute value(query component order−matchedcomponent order).

In one embodiment, the matched part numbers are sorted as follows: indescending order of the query matching score calculated in 1); then indescending order of matched part matching score calculated in 2) for anypart numbers whose first sums are the same; then in ascending order ofthe order matching score calculated in 4) for any part numbers whosefirst and second sums are the same; and then in descending order of thenumber of matched components calculated in 3) for any part numbers whosefirst, second, and fourth sums are the same.

For example, if the part numbers catalog contains the stored partnumbers “X12”, “12-X” and “67” and if the input query part number is“12”, parsing the stored part numbers generates the following primaryand secondary components:

Stored Part Number Primary Components Secondary Components “X12” “X”,“12” None “12-X” “12”, “X” None “67” “67” None

Calculating primary components relevance scores, as described above,results in the following.

Stored Sum of Character Average Relevance Part Primary Factors CharacterWeight Score Number Component (SCF) (ACW) (RS) “X12” “X” 5 2000 2000“X12” “12” 5 2000 8000 “12-X” “12” 5 2000 8000 “12-X” “X” 5 2000 2000“67” “67” 4 2500 10000

In this example, there are no secondary components to calculaterelevance scores for.

Generating composite components and calculating relevance scores, in thefashion described above, results in:

Stored Part Composite Relevance Number Component Score “X12” “X12” 10000“12-X” “12X” 10000

The parts components' index is therefore the following:

Absolute Stored Part Component Relevance Component Number Component TypeScore Position “X12” “X” Primary 2000 1 “X12” “12” Primary 8000 2 “X12”“X12” Composite 10000 1 “12-X” “12” Primary 8000 1 “12-X” “X” Primary2000 2 “12-X” “12X” Composite 10000 1 “67” “67” Primary 10000 1

Processing input query “12”, this part number has one primary component:“12” with a relevance score of 10000 and an absolute component order of1, no secondary components, and no composite components.

Identifying matching parts from stored parts numbers in the components'index−that is selecting all records where a primary, secondary orcomposite component=“12”, results in:

Stored Absolute Part Component Component Number Component Type RelevanceScore Position “X12” “12” Primary 8000 2 “12-X” “12” Primary 8000 1

Grouping by part number and calculating ranking metrics results in thefollowing:

Query Matched Number of Order Stored Part Matching Part Matching MatchedMatching Number Score Score Components Score “X12” 10000 8000 1 1 = abs(2-1) “12-X” 10000 8000 1 0 = abs (1-1)

Sorting the matching parts according to the ranking metrics describedabove results in the following order of stored part numbers: “12-X” and“X12”.

The method of the present invention according to one embodiment alsointegrates a descriptive text/keyword search with the part numbersearch. The details of exemplary text/keyword search algorithmimplementations are well known and so are not described. The ranking andintegration steps according to this embodiment can be applied to anytext/keyword search algorithm. To use text/keyword searching, we assumeeach part/product has a part description attribute (108) attached to it,as seen in FIG. 1C, that can be used as the basis for descriptivetext/keywords. The embodiment can be generalized to include as a searchterm any other attributes like category, tags, datasheet, etc.

To implement a descriptive text/keyword search, the method according toone embodiment includes a new component type, the descriptive keywordcomponent. A keyword component is any keyword found in the part/productdescription. As seen in FIG. 1C, the exemplary part description (108)includes two key words, Solder (110) and Wire (112). The identificationof the keyword is left to the details of the text/keyword searchimplementation. For example, whether to do any of the following:dictionary lookup, morphological analysis/stemming, dummy (i.e.,unimportant or excluded) words removal, is within the specification ofthe text search algorithm embodiment selected and integrated into thesearch process.

According to one embodiment, each descriptive keyword component (110,112) is assigned a relevance score using a relevance function which ispreferably also developed based on the text/keyword search algorithmused. The flowchart in FIG. 3 illustrates one embodiment of how the partdescription is parsed (200), the descriptive keywords identified (202),and the relevance score calculated for each keyword (204). For example,the tf−idf weight (term frequency-inverse document frequency) known inthe art may be used to build a relevance function.

In one embodiment of the keyword relevance a matched descriptive keywordcomponent is given a numerical weight to make it more important than amatched part-number component. For example, consider two part numbers,“123abc” which includes the descriptor “hose”, and “567xyz” whichincludes the descriptor “brakes”. When a user enters a search query of:“123 brakes”, the stored part number relevance function and the keywordrelevance function will determine which part number is listed first. Inthis embodiment, the part number 567xyz brakes will be listed first.

The keyword components and their relevance scores are both saved withother components (primary, secondary and composite components) in thecomponents' index database (206, 312), as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.

When a user enters a search query part number which includes adescriptor, it is processed as follows, as seen in FIG. 4. Using anEnglish dictionary (or some other technique depending on the integratedtext-search algorithm), the English components of the query areidentified and marked as keyword components (304). The non-Englishcomponents are parsed the same way part numbers are handled and dividedinto components: primary, secondary and composite components (306). Thenthe relevance scores are calculated for both English and Non-Englishcomponent parts, at (308) and (306), respectively. The rest of thesearch algorithm continues in the same way as the above describedembodiments of the part number search algorithm. In one embodiment,therefore, for each identified stored part number, the first sum furtherincludes the addition of the relevance scores of the one or moredescriptive keywords of said query part number that match a descriptivekeyword of the identified stored part number and the second sum furtherincludes the addition of the relevance scores of the one or moredescriptive keywords of the identified stored part number that match aquery descriptive keyword.

The following is an example of this embodiment of the keyword searchalgorithm according to one embodiment, where the part database containsthe parts: “1234”: Hose, “1234abcd”: Brakes, and “abed”: Brakes, and aninput query part number of “123 Brakes”. Parsing these part numbersgenerates the following primary, secondary and keyword components:

Stored Part Primary Secondary Keyword Number Components ComponentsComponents 1234 1234 123, 234 Hose 1234abcd 1234, abcd 123, 234, abc,bcd Brakes Abcd Abcd abc, bcd Brakes

Calculating primary components relevance scores, as described above,results in:

Sum of Character Average Relevance Stored Part Primary Factors CharacterWeight Score Number Components (SCF) (ACW) (RS) 1234 1234 2 + 2 + 2 + 2= 8 10000/8 = 1250 10000 1234abcd 1234 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 =12 10000/12 = 833.3 6667 abcd 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 1210000/12 = 833.3 3333 Abcd abcd 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 4 10000/4 = 2500 10000

Calculating secondary components relevance scores, as described above,results in:

Parent Stored Part Secondary Component Relevance Score Number ComponentsRelevance Score (RS) 1234 123 10000 7500 234 10000 3750 1234abcd 1236667 5000 234 6667 2500 abc 3333 1250 bcd 3333 1250 Abcd abc 10000 3750bcd 10000 3750

Keyword components relevance scores can be calculated in one embodimentas follows. For simplicity, a constant keyword relevance functionKRc(k)=20000 is used to thereby give the keyword search term moreimportance than the alphanumeric characters in the stored part number.The resulting relevance scores are as follows:

Stored Part Keyword Number Components Relevance Score 1234 Hose 200001234abcd Brakes 20000 abcd Brakes 20000

The parts components' index is therefore the following:

Relevance Stored Part Score Number Component Component Type (RS) “1234”“Hose” Keyword 20000 “1234” “1234” Primary 10000 “1234” “123”Secondary - omitting trailing 7500 “1234” “234” Secondary - omittingleading 3750 “1234abcd” “Brakes” Keyword 20000 “1234abcd” “1234” Primary6667 “1234abcd” “abcd” Primary 3333 “1234abcd” “123” Secondary -omitting trailing 5000 “1234abcd” “234” Secondary - omitting leading2500 “1234abcd” “abc” Secondary - omitting trailing 1250 “1234abcd”“bcd” Secondary - omitting leading 1250 “abcd” “Brakes” Keyword 20000“abcd” “abcd” Primary 10000 “abcd” “abc” Secondary - omitting trailing3750 “abcd” “bcd” Secondary - omitting leading 3750

Processing input query “123 Brakes” results in a primary component of123 with a relevance score of 10000, secondary components: “12”, “23”with relevance scores 6667 and 3333, respectively, and keywordcomponents: “Brakes” with a relevance score of 20000.

Identifying matching parts from the components index, i.e., selectingall stored part number records where components=“123”, “12”, “23” or“Brakes” are found results in:

Relevance Stored Part Score Number Component Component Type (RS) “1234”“123” Secondary - omitting trailing 7500 “1234abcd” “Brakes” Keyword20000 “1234abcd” “123” Secondary - omitting trailing 5000 “abcd”“Brakes” Keyword 20000

Grouping by part number and calculating ranking metrics, in the samefashion as described above, results in the following:

Input Query Part Number of Stored Part Number Matching Matched PartMatching Matched Number Score Score Components “1234abcd” 30000 25000 2“abcd” 20000 20000 1 “1234” 10000 7500 1

Sorting the matching parts in the above table in descending order ofcolumn 2 then 3 then 4, as explained above, results in the followingsort: part number “1234abcd”, followed by part number “abcd”, followedby part number “1234”.

FIG. 5 is a computer-implemented system for performing part numbersearches according to one embodiment of the invention. The systemdescribed in FIG. 5 can be designed as a client/server model like webapplications/enterprise applications (500) where a user is querying aremote products catalog, or as a standalone desktop application (508)where the user is querying a local products catalog, or in other waysknown in the art.

In operation, according to one embodiment of the invention, the userenters a search query (502) that is forwarded to a searching server(s)(506). This can be a direct input, in case of a local catalog (508), orit can be input through the network/internet (504) in case of aclient/server model (500). The searching server(s) (506), acting as afirst data processor, uses the parts components index (510), stored in adigital memory, to perform components matching according to variousembodiments of the invention described above, and identify the resultingpart numbers and enabling them to be displayed to the user (at 500 or508). The searching server(s) (506) uses the original stored partnumbers database (512), stored in the same digital memory as the partscomponents index or in a different memory, as shown, to fetch all thedetails for the resulting part numbers to be shown to the user. Anindexing server(s) (514), acting as a second data processor, isresponsible for building and maintaining the parts components index(510) by continuous monitoring of the original part numbers database(512) or by using insertion/update triggers. It is within normal skillin the art to implement searching server (506) and indexing server (514)in a single computer/data processor.

In one embodiment, the system for performing part number searchescomprises digital memory (512) having a database of part numbers storedtherein, a data processor (514) configured to parse each stored partnumber into one or more primary components, secondary components, andcomposite components based on a first predetermined set of rules; tocalculate a relevance score for each component of each said stored partnumber; and to store each said relevance score in a second digitalmemory (510) or in the same digital memory (512) in which the partnumbers database is stored. A user interface, implemented in oneembodiment as data processor (506) enables a user to input a query partnumber. The user interface data processor (506) is configured to parsesaid query part number into one or more query primary components, querysecondary components, and query composite components based on the firstpredetermined set of rules, or some other predetermined set of rules,and to calculate a relevance score for each query component of saidquery part number. This data is preferably stored in a digital memory indata processor (506). User interface data processor (506) is furtherconfigured to search the parts component index memory (510) and toidentify each stored part number that has at least one component thatmatches a stored query component of said query part number. Userinterface data processor 506) is interface further configured forenabling the display to the user of the one or more identified storedpart numbers in descending numerical order as a function of a first sumequal to the sum of the relevance scores of the one or more querycomponents of the query part number that match a component of theidentified stored part number, and for enabling the display to the userof the one or more stored part numbers in descending numerical order asa function of a second sum equal to the sum of the relevance scores ofthe one or more components of the identified stored part number thatmatch a query component for any identified stored part numbers whosefirst sums are the same.

In one embodiment, user interface data processor (506) is furtherconfigured assign a component position number to each primary componentof said query part number and to each primary component of each saidstored part number, said component position number corresponding to theposition of the component within the respective part number, assign thesame component position number to each secondary component of a givenprimary component, and assign to each composite component the smaller ofthe two component position numbers assigned to the primary componentsthat make up the respective composite component, and storing saidcomponent position numbers in a digital memory. User interface dataprocessor (506) is further configured to enable the display to the userof the one or more stored part numbers in ascending numerical order as afunction of a fourth sum equal to the sum of the absolute values of thedifference between the component position number of a query componentand the component position number of a matched component of saididentified stored part number for each matched component for anyidentified stored part numbers whose first and second sums are the same,and to enable the display to the user of the one or more part numbers indescending numerical order as a function of a third sum equal to thenumber of components in the identified stored part number that matchcomponents in said query part number for any identified stored partnumbers whose first, second, and fourth sums are the same.

The present invention has been described in relation to particularexamples, which are intended in all respects to be illustrative ratherthan restrictive. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that manydifferent combinations of circuits will be suitable for practicing thepresent invention. Moreover, other implementations of the invention willbe apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of thespecification and practice of the invention disclosed herein. It isintended that the specification and examples therein be considered asexemplary only, with a true scope of the invention being indicated bythe following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer implemented method for identifying oneor more part numbers in a database of part numbers stored in a digitalmemory comprising: parsing each stored part number into one or moreprimary components and secondary components based on a predetermined setof rules; calculating a relevance score for each component of each saidstored part number as follows: assigning a weight factor WFa having afirst predetermined value for alphabetic characters and a weight factorWFn having a second predetermined value for numeric characters in saidpart number, wherein the second predetermined value is higher than thefirst predetermined value; calculating the weight WPC of each primarycomponent by multiplying the number of characters in the primarycomponent by WFa if the primary component contains alphabetic charactersand by WFn if the primary component contains numeric component;calculating the sum of the weights WPC of the primary componentsSUM(WPCi) in said part number; calculating the weight of each characterWEC by dividing a predetermined constant by SUM(WPCi); calculating therelevance score for each numeric primary component by multiplying thenumber of primary component characters times WFn times WEC; calculatingthe relevance score for each alphabetic primary component by multiplyingthe number of primary component characters times WFa times WEC; and foreach secondary component of each primary component in said part number,calculating the relevance score as equal to the number of letters ornumbers in the secondary component divided by the number of letters ornumbers in the parent primary component times the relevance score ofsaid parent primary component times a predetermined weighting factor,wherein the predetermined weighting factor for secondary componentsformed by omitting trailing characters in its parent primary componentis a higher number than the weighting factor for secondary componentsformed by omitting leading characters in its parent primary component;storing said relevance scores in said digital memory; receiving a querypart number and parsing it into one or more query primary components andquery secondary components based on said first predetermined set ofrules; calculating a relevance score for each query component of saidquery part number as follows: assigning a weight factor WFa having afirst predetermined value for alphabetic characters and a weight factorWFn having a second predetermined value for numeric characters in saidpart number, wherein the second predetermined value is higher than thefirst predetermined value; calculating the weight WPC of each primarycomponent by multiplying the number of characters in the primarycomponent by WFa if the primary component contains alphabetic charactersand by WFn if the primary component contains numeric component;calculating the sum of the weights WPC of the primary componentsSUM(WPCi) in said part number; calculating the weight of each characterWEC by dividing a predetermined constant by SUM(WPCi); calculating therelevance score for each numeric primary component by multiplying thenumber of primary component characters times WFn times WEC; calculatingthe relevance score for each alphabetic primary component by multiplyingthe number of primary component characters times WFa times WEC; and foreach secondary component of each primary component in said part number,calculating the relevance score as equal to the number of letters ornumbers in the secondary component divided by the number of letters ornumbers in the parent primary component times the relevance score ofsaid parent primary component times a predetermined weighting factor,wherein the predetermined weighting factor for secondary componentsformed by omitting trailing characters in its parent primary componentis a higher number than the weighting factor for secondary componentsformed by omitting leading characters in its parent primary component;identifying each stored part number that has at least one component thatmatches a query component of said query part number; calculating foreach identified stored part number: a) a first sum equal to the sum ofthe relevance scores of the one or more query components of the querypart number that match a component of the identified stored part number;b) a second sum equal to the sum of the relevance scores of the one ormore components of the identified stored part number that match a querycomponent; and c) a third sum equal to the number of components in theidentified stored part number that match components in said query partnumber; sorting the identified stored part numbers in a predeterminednumerical order as a function of said first sum; sorting the identifiedstored part numbers in a predetermined numerical order as a function ofsaid second sum for any identified stored part numbers whose first sumsare the same; and sorting the identified stored part numbers indescending numerical order as a function of said third sum for anyidentified stored part numbers whose first and second sums are the same,and wherein said predetermined set of rules causes the parsing of eachstored part number and each query part number into one or more primarycomponents based on the following: any contiguous set of one or morealphabet letters and any contiguous set of one or more numbers is aprimary component, and wherein special characters, including but notlimited to hyphens, dots, slashes, brackets and tabs, comprise primarycomponent boundaries between adjacent letters and numbers; and whereinsaid predetermined set of rules causes the parsing of each primarycomponent of each part number into zero or more secondary componentsbased on the following: any subset of a primary component obtained byomitting one or more leading or trailing characters is a secondarycomponent; and the number of secondary components for a given primarycomponent is a predetermined function of the primary component.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the sorting of the identified stored partnumbers is in a descending numerical order for each of said first andsecond sums.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: applying acorrection function to each of the first and second sums to remove lesssignificant variations between such sums before the sorting of saididentified stored part numbers as a function of said first and secondsums.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: identifying, foreach stored part number having two or more primary components, one ormore composite components, each composite component comprising anadjacent pair of primary components, such that the number of compositecomponents in each stored part number is equal to the number of primarycomponents less one; identifying, for a query part number having two ormore primary components, one or more composite components, eachcomposite component comprising an adjacent pair of primary components,such that the number of composite components in said query part numberis equal to the number of primary components less one; and calculating arelevance score for each composite component of said query part numberand each composite component of each said stored part number, saidrelevance score equal to the sum of the relevance scores of the twoprimary components that make up the composite component and storing saidrelevance score in a digital memory; and wherein, for each identifiedstored part number, said first sum further includes the addition of therelevance scores of the one or more composite components of said querypart number that match a composite component of the identified storedpart number, and said second sum further includes the addition of therelevance scores of the one or more composite components of theidentified stored part number that match a query composite component. 5.The method of claim 1, wherein the query part number is supplied by auser via a computer interface and wherein said method further comprisesenabling the display of the sorted identified part numbers using saidcomputer interface.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:parsing each query part number to identify any keywords that describethe part associated with each part number; parsing each part numberstored in said database to identify any keywords that describe the partassociated with that stored part number; calculating a relevance scorefor each descriptive keyword of said query part number and eachdescriptive keyword of each said stored part number and storing saidrelevance score in a digital memory; and wherein, for each identifiedstored part number, said first sum further includes the addition of therelevance scores of the one or more descriptive keywords of said querypart number that match a descriptive keyword of the identified storedpart number and said second sum further includes the addition of therelevance scores of the one or more descriptive keywords of theidentified stored part number that match a query descriptive keyword. 7.The method of claim 4, further comprising: assigning a componentposition number to each primary component of said query part number andto each primary component of each said stored part number, saidcomponent position number corresponding to the position of the componentwithin the respective part number, assigning the same component positionnumber to each secondary component of a given primary component, andassigning to each composite component the smaller of the two componentposition numbers assigned to the primary components that make up therespective composite component, and storing said component positionnumbers in a digital memory; calculating for each identified stored partnumber a fourth sum equal to the sum of the absolute values of thedifference between the component position number of a query componentand the component position number of a matched component of saididentified stored part number for each matched component; sorting theidentified stored part numbers in a predetermined numerical order as afunction of said fourth sum for any identified stored part numbers whosefirst and second sums are the same.
 8. The method of claim 7, whereinthe sorting of the identified stored part numbers is in descendingnumerical order for each of said first and second sums and in ascendingnumerical order for said fourth sum.
 9. A computer implemented methodfor identifying one or more part numbers in a database of part numbersstored in a digital memory comprising: parsing each stored part numberinto one or more primary components, secondary components and compositecomponents based on a predetermined set of rules; calculating arelevance score for each component of each said stored part number asfollows: assigning a weight factor WFa having a first predeterminedvalue for alphabetic characters and a weight factor WFn having a secondpredetermined value for numeric characters in said part number, whereinthe second predetermined value is higher than the first predeterminedvalue; calculating the weight WPC of each primary component bymultiplying the number of characters in the primary component by WFa ifthe primary component contains alphabetic characters and by WFn if theprimary component contains numeric component; calculating the sum of theweights WPC of the primary components SUM(WPCi) in said part number;calculating the weight of each character WEC by dividing a predeterminedconstant by SUM(WPCi); calculating the relevance score for each numericprimary component by multiplying the number of primary componentcharacters times WFn times WEC; calculating the relevance score for eachalphabetic primary component by multiplying the number of primarycomponent characters times WFa times WEC; calculating the relevancescore for each composite component by summing the relevance scores ofits primary components; and for each secondary component of each primarycomponent in said part number, calculating the relevance score as equalto the number of letters or numbers in the secondary component dividedby the number of letters or numbers in the parent primary componenttimes the relevance score of said parent primary component times apredetermined weighting factor, wherein the predetermined weightingfactor for secondary components formed by omitting trailing charactersin its parent primary component is a higher number than the weightingfactor for secondary components formed by omitting leading characters inits parent primary component; storing said relevance scores in saiddigital memory; receiving a query part number from a user via a computerinterface and parsing it into one or more query primary components,query secondary components, and query composite components based on saidpredetermined set of rules; calculating a relevance score for each querycomponent of said query part number as follows: assigning a weightfactor WFa having a first predetermined value for alphabetic charactersand a weight factor WFn having a second predetermined value for numericcharacters in said part number, wherein the second predetermined valueis higher than the first predetermined value; calculating the weight WPCof each primary component by multiplying the number of characters in theprimary component by WFa if the primary component contains alphabeticcharacters and by WFn if the primary component contains numericcomponent; calculating the sum of the weights WPC of the primarycomponents SUM(WPCi) in said part number; calculating the weight of eachcharacter WEC by dividing a predetermined constant by SUM(WPCi);calculating the relevance score for each numeric primary component bymultiplying the number of primary component characters times WFn timesWEC; calculating the relevance score for each alphabetic primarycomponent by multiplying the number of primary component characterstimes WFa times WEC; calculating the relevance score for each compositecomponent by summing the relevance scores of its primary components; andfor each secondary component of each primary component in said partnumber, calculating the relevance score as equal to the number ofletters or numbers in the secondary component divided by the number ofletters or numbers in the parent primary component times the relevancescore of said parent primary component times a predetermined weightingfactor, wherein the predetermined weighting factor for secondarycomponents formed by omitting trailing characters in its parent primarycomponent is a higher number than the weighting factor for secondarycomponents formed by omitting leading characters in its parent primarycomponent; identifying each stored part number that has at least onecomponent that matches a query component of said query part number;calculating for each identified stored part number: a) a first sum equalto the sum of the relevance scores of the one or more query componentsof the query part number that match a component of the identified storedpart number; b) a second sum equal to the sum of the relevance scores ofthe one or more components of the identified stored part number thatmatch a query component; and c) a third sum equal to the number ofcomponents in the identified stored part number that match components insaid query part number; sorting the identified stored part numbers indescending numerical order as a function of said first sum; sorting theidentified stored part numbers in descending numerical order as afunction of said second sum for any identified stored part numbers whosefirst sums are the same; and sorting the identified stored part numbersin descending numerical order as a function of said third sum for anyidentified stored part numbers whose first and second sums are the same;and enabling the display of the sorted identified part numbers usingsaid computer interface.
 10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:assigning a component position number to each primary component of saidquery part number and to each primary component of each said stored partnumber, said component position number corresponding to the position ofthe component within the respective part number, assigning the samecomponent position number to each secondary component of a given primarycomponent, and assigning to each composite component the smaller of thetwo component position numbers assigned to the primary components thatmake up the respective composite component, and storing said componentposition numbers in a digital memory; calculating for each identifiedstored part number a fourth sum equal to the sum of the absolute valuesof the difference between the component position number of a querycomponent and the component position number of a matched component ofsaid identified stored part number for each matched component; andsorting the identified stored part numbers in ascending numerical orderas a function of said fourth sum for any identified stored part numberswhose first and second sums are the same.
 11. The method of claim 9,further comprising: parsing each query part number to identify anykeywords that describe the part associated with each part number;parsing each part number stored in said database to identify anykeywords that describe the part associated with that stored part number;calculating a relevance score for each descriptive keyword of said querypart number and each descriptive keyword of each said stored part numberand storing said relevance score in a digital memory; and wherein, foreach identified stored part number, said first sum further includes theaddition of the relevance scores of the one or more descriptive keywordsof said query part number that match a descriptive keyword of theidentified stored part number and said second sum further includes theaddition of the relevance scores of the one or more descriptive keywordsof the identified stored part number that match a query descriptivekeyword.
 12. A computer-implemented system for performing part numbersearches comprising: a digital memory having a database of part numbersstored therein; a data processor configured to parse each stored partnumber into one or more primary components and secondary componentsbased on a predetermined set of rules comprising the following: i) anycontiguous set of one or more alphabet letters and any contiguous set ofone or more numbers is a primary component, and wherein specialcharacters, including but not limited to hyphens, dots, slashes,brackets and tabs, comprise primary component boundaries betweenadjacent letters and numbers; and ii) each primary component is parsedinto zero or more secondary components based on the following: a) anysubset of a primary component obtained by omitting one or more leadingor trailing characters is a secondary component; and b) the number ofsecondary components for a given primary component is a predeterminedfunction of the primary component; said data processor furtherconfigured to calculate a relevance score for each component of eachsaid stored part number as follows: assigning a weight factor WFa havinga first predetermined value for alphabetic characters and a weightfactor WFn having a second predetermined value for numeric characters insaid part number, wherein the second predetermined value is higher thanthe first predetermined value; calculating the weight WPC of eachprimary component by multiplying the number of characters in the primarycomponent by WFa if the primary component contains alphabetic charactersand by WFn if the primary component contains numeric component;calculating the sum of the weights WPC of the primary componentsSUM(WPCi) in said part number; calculating the weight of each characterWEC by dividing a predetermined constant by SUM(WPCi); calculating therelevance score for each numeric primary component by multiplying thenumber of primary component characters times WFn times WEC; calculatingthe relevance score for each alphabetic primary component by multiplyingthe number of primary component characters times WFa times WEC; and foreach secondary component of each primary component in said part number,calculating the relevance score as equal to the number of letters ornumbers in the secondary component divided by the number of letters ornumbers in the parent primary component times the relevance score ofsaid parent primary component times a predetermined weighting factor,wherein the predetermined weighting factor for secondary componentsformed by omitting trailing characters in its parent primary componentis a higher number than the weighting factor for secondary componentsformed by omitting leading characters in its parent primary component;said data processor further configured to store each said relevancescore in said digital memory; a user interface for enabling a user toinput a query part number, said user interface configured to parse saidquery part number into one or more query primary components and querysecondary components based on said predetermined set of rules and tocalculate a relevance score for each query component of said query partnumber as follows: assigning a weight factor WFa having a firstpredetermined value for alphabetic characters and a weight factor WFnhaving a second predetermined value for numeric characters in said partnumber, wherein the second predetermined value is higher than the firstpredetermined value; calculating the weight WPC of each primarycomponent by multiplying the number of characters in the primarycomponent by WFa if the primary component contains alphabetic charactersand by WFn if the primary component contains numeric component;calculating the sum of the weights WPC of the primary componentsSUM(WPCi) in said part number; calculating the weight of each characterWEC by dividing a predetermined constant by SUM(WPCi); calculating therelevance score for each numeric primary component by multiplying thenumber of primary component characters times WFn times WEC; calculatingthe relevance score for each alphabetic primary component by multiplyingthe number of primary component characters times WFa times WEC; and foreach secondary component of each primary component in said part number,calculating the relevance score as equal to the number of letters ornumbers in the secondary component divided by the number of letters ornumbers in the parent primary component times the relevance score ofsaid parent primary component times a predetermined weighting factor,wherein the predetermined weighting factor for secondary componentsformed by omitting trailing characters in its parent primary componentis a higher number than the weighting factor for secondary componentsformed by omitting leading characters in its parent primary component;said user interface further configured to store each said relevancescore in said digital memory; said data processor further configured toidentify each stored part number that has at least one component thatmatches a stored query component of said query part number; and saiduser interface further configured for enabling the displaying to theuser of the one or more identified stored part numbers in descendingnumerical order as a function of a first sum equal to the sum of therelevance scores of the one or more query components of the query partnumber that match a component of the identified stored part number; forenabling the display to the user of the one or more stored part numbersin descending numerical order as a function of a second sum equal to thesum of the relevance scores of the one or more components of theidentified stored part number that match a query component for anyidentified stored part numbers whose first sums are the same; and forenabling the display to the user of the one or more stored part numbersin descending numerical order as a function of a third sum equal to thenumber of components in the identified stored part number that matchcomponents in said query part number for any identified stored partnumbers whose first and second sums are the same.
 13. The system ofclaim 12, wherein said user interface is coupled to a user accessibleclient computer through a computer network, and wherein said dataprocessor comprises one or more computer servers.
 14. The system ofclaim 12, wherein said digital memory comprises a first digital memoryfor storing said part numbers database and a second digital memory forstoring said primary and secondary components of said stored partnumbers and their respective relevance scores.
 15. The system of claim12, wherein said user interface and said data processor comprise asingle computer.
 16. The system of claim 12, wherein said data processoris further configured to parse each stored part number into one or morecomposite components, each composite component comprising the merging oftwo adjacent primary components, wherein said user interface is furtherconfigured to parse each query part number into one or more compositecomponents, each composite component comprising the merging of twoadjacent primary components, and wherein said wherein the relevancescore for each composite component is equal to the sum of the relevancescores of the primary components in the composite component.
 17. Thesystem of claim 12, wherein said data processor is further configuredto: assign a component position number to each primary component of saidquery part number and to each primary component of each said stored partnumber, said component position number corresponding to the position ofthe component within the respective part number, assign the samecomponent position number to each secondary component of a given primarycomponent, and assign to each composite component the smaller of the twocomponent position numbers assigned to the primary components that makeup the respective composite component, and storing said componentposition numbers in a digital memory; said user interface furtherconfigured to enable the display to the user of the one or more storedpart numbers in ascending numerical order as a function of a fourth sumequal to the sum of the absolute values of the difference between thecomponent position number of a query component and the componentposition number of a matched component of said identified stored partnumber for each matched component for any identified stored part numberswhose first and second sums are the same.